It is a real pleasure to be invited to write a review of
Jean Fischer's new edition of F. M. Alexander's Man's Supreme
Inheritance (published by Mouritz Press, Foreword by Walter
Carrington). This follows the same editor's and press’ publication
in July of 1995 of F. Matthias Alexander Articles and Lectures. One can only hope that Fischer and Mouritz plan to re-publish
the rest of Alexander's writings, because these two volumes are
remarkable for their comprehensive content and attention to
detail. Articles and Lectures is the first published
compilation of F.M.'s articles, published letters and lectures on
his Technique. Thirty separate pieces are included, ranging in
time from 1894 to around 1950, a number of which, to this reader's
knowledge, have not been readily available. (1) Each separate
piece has its own brief introductory history and commentary. The
extensive and fascinating Notes and References are almost a work
in themselves. To have all this gathered together in one volume
makes this a treasure chest worth continued re-reading for those
eager to investigate the evolution of Alexander's thinking
regarding his work. One teacher has described it as “the fifth
Alexander book.”

The new Man's Supreme Inheritance (hereafter MSI) is a gem of the same strand in that it can be inserted
(chronologically) between Parts 1 and 2 of Articles and
Lectures. We get to see F. M.'s thinking develop at this
crucial time, which included World War I, his first trip to
America, and his development of a new inhibitory use of his hands
in teaching. The same attentive editing is evident. There is a
complete, meticulous history of the different editions and
printings of this book and even a section by section textual
comparison between the 1910 and 1918 editions. (2) A varied
selection of reviewers' responses to both of these additions is
included in the Appendices.

What strikes me on this particular, personal revisiting of F.
M.'s writings is the leap he has made. In the early articles
(1894-1910) his emphasis is on the curative and restorative
aspects of the Technique. The emphasis is continued and included
in MSI but it is subsumed under the much broader emphasis
on the importance of the adoption of the principles of conscious
guidance and control to the successful growth (evolution) of the
human race, as individuals and as a species. Alexander has
re-understood the whole theory of evolution in the light of his
work. John Dewey, who of course wrote the Introduction to the 1918
edition of MSI, refers twice specifically to it in his
chapter on Habits and Will early in his own work, Human Nature
and Conduct (1922). Later in that same book, Dewey discusses
the ethical import of the doctrine of evolution:

“In fact evolution means continuity of change; and the
fact that change may take the form of present growth of
complexity and interaction. Significant stages in change are
found not in access of fixity of attainment but in those crises
in which a seeming fixity of habits gives way to a release of
capacities that have not previously functioned: in times that
is of readjustment and redirection.” (3)

Such a strenuous process of growth and revitalization can most
certainly be aided by study of texts such as those discussed in
this review; (4) which all involved in this work can, in common,
investigate, discuss, and refer to. Again, thanks to Jean Fischer
and Mouritz Press. Please give us more quality re-issues of
Alexander's works.

(1) The editor even notes that at least two
specific papers are missing and that many more may
appear.

(2) Again, what is not known or certain is
noted as carefully as what is thought definitive.

Kevin Ahern trained with Joan and Alexander Murray from
1977 to 1980 at the Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique. He
has taught the Technique in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Seattle,
Washington. He currently resides in and maintains a private
teaching practice in Kaneohe, Hawaii.